Sayin’ it ain’t so won’t work

Friday

Jun 7, 2013 at 3:15 AM

A Medicare trustees’ report earlier this month all but guarantees the current Congress will do nothing about the program’s pending insolvency. Issued at the same time, another trustee’s report spells the same fate for setting right the beleaguered Social Security System.

A quick read of the Medicare headlines brags the program will last longer than expected — 2026 instead of 2024.

“Medicare Trustee’s Report Eases Concerns on funding,” declares The Wall Street Journal, only to provide the bad news four long paragraphs into the story.

To quote the Journal: Despite its more optimistic forecasts for the next few years, the report said Medicare’s long-term growth remains on an unsustainable path. The program’s hospital fund had costs that exceeded its income last year.

On the Social Security side of the ledger nothing changed. The program still runs out of reserves in 2033, same as reported last year. After the reserves are depleted, reports the Christian Science Monitor, continuing payroll tax receipts would be sufficient to pay three quarters of promised benefits in coming years.

In effect, both reports have put, or keep, the problem well beyond a short-sighted Congress being able to see a Mack truck roaring toward at it in broad daylight.

To baby boomers and others who expect to live to see 2026 and possibly 2033 this news is unsettling for obvious reason. They may well see themselves shunted into a modern day poor house before life’s end. But the news also speaks to the kind of America and lifestyle they are looking to leave their children and grandchildren. Polls have shown Americans, as a whole, want to pass along a better country and lifestyle to coming generations.

But not so Congress, if we are to measure past and current efforts.

President George H. Bush grabbed the third rail of politics in trying to add stability to the Social Security Trust Fund. His effort failed. Since then both parties have given little more than lip service to the notion of repair.

As for Medicare, its future seems to have become secondary to the drive to implement ObamaCare. But at what cost and expense?

The Journal reports the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency overseeing the programs, has warned that between 2015 and 2021 (after ObamaCare has gone into effect), health spending is set to grow at an average annual rate of 6.2% as a result of the aging of the population, expansion of access to care under the federal health-care law, and an improvement in economic conditions. Actuaries have said the growth may take place even if care becomes more efficient.

“This report confirms what Republicans have been saying for some time — doing nothing is not an option,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, (R., Texas), chairman of a House health subcommittee. “Seniors deserve to know that Medicare is there for the long haul,” he added.

As it now stands, we believe Medicare and Social Security will not be there for the long haul unless voters demand more of Congress. That means continuing to make the point with wayward senators and representatives who believe a tweak here and a tweak there will do the trick.

It won’t ... not simply according to this newspaper, but according to those who should know — trustees of both Social Security and Medicare.